SOULFUL HUMANS: Sabine Meyer, Photographer, Traveller

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Sabine Meyer, Photographer, Traveller - Ascoli Piceno, Italy

Sabine Meyer' portrait - photo by Lanfranco Valori

Sabine Meyer: " My camera helps me to overcome my fears"

BPP: Who are you? And who you really are?

Sabine Meyer: My name is Sabine Meyer, I'm 48 years old, I'm German, living in Italy since 1988.

I've gained experience as a freelance photographer in Berlin, Germany, at the beginning of the 80's. Afterwards I have expanded my skills working along side Gianni Baggi as a photo assistant in his commercial advertising photography studio in Milan, Italy. I then undertook various assignments such as still life, portraiture, fashion. I'm collaborating with the German production ClassicConcept for videoproductions. I'm mainly working in reportage and Fine Art Photography.

I'm a member of the European Art Group “Frequenzen”.

In this moment I'm based in Ascoli Piceno, Italy. I've grown up three kids, now teenagers.

"Blue grotto"

Deep inside I'm a traveller. I've always been travelling a lot even when my kids were small. My ideal condition is the one as a tourist. I'm very curious and I can't get enough of beauty. I love nature and after several years spent in different European metropolis I finally got it to live by the sea. I love art, music, literature and any kind of waterscapes, I love the sensitivity of the human beings and I love my dog.

The more I train my eyes to notice details instead of the big image, the more I'm going to find abstract art everywhere. Colors, textures, lines, shapes form the essence of the complete picture. The camera helps me to enter in communication with hidden contents no matter if the subject is a stone or a person.

"Breath"

BPP: If you could say something important to others who were listening, what would you tell them?

Sabine Meyer: I would tell them to BE, instead of asking themselves who they are or what might be the sense of being.

"Untitled"

"Pigments"

BPP: What is your true dream, the one that keeps you up at night and if one day it were to come true you would feel peace and calmness in your heart?

Sabine Meyer: I'm dreaming about travelling around the world for the rest of my life making wonderful photographs for National Geographic,meeting great people, learning new languages and enlarging my cultural horizons. I'm trying to realize this dream in my daily life in a simple possible matter: I'm producing a kind of photographic diary. Every day I insert one or more photos taken during the daily life questions. There are photographs of my projects, my works, my kids, the landscapes I discover or the flowers I adore.

"Projects" from album: "Day by day"

"Testa fra le nouvole"

"The soul's thought colours"

BPP: How is life currently for the people in your country and what would you wish for them and for the planet at large?

Sabine Meyer: In this moment in Italy cultural life is very difficult. The crisis can be felt everywhere but affects mainly social and cultural areas. The Italian school system is helplessly out of date and out of budget and therefore young people have a lot of problems to find any kind of employment. The artistic spirit is left to people who are strong enough to produce artistic events in autoproduction, it is really difficult to find financial support. Many young creative people simply are leaving Italy trying to find work abroad.

From the album: "Six hours in Rome"

From the album: "Six hous in Rome"

Italy is plenty of ancient culture, but nobody seems to care about it. There are so many beautiful buildings, monuments, frescos everywhere, left simply careless. I feel angry and sad about this throwing away such important resources. Environment pollution is an another hot subject; only a few people are really interested in measures for improvement and generally these are not the ones who might take important decisions. Sometimes it's hard for me as a “green” and “social” German to live in this country.

"E nostra piccola vita e nostra grande cuore"

"Poets are damned"

"She is so beautiful"

Sabine Meyer's portrait - photo by Fransesca Marchetti

"Fullmoon leaf"

BPP: If you had a chance to be a child again would you choose the same life?

Sabine Meyer: I think I would do everything as I did, except one thing: I would try to waste less time.

"Camion"

"The key"

"Untitled"

"When grandma opens her sewing box"

BPP: What was the exact moment that you realized what you wanted to do with your life? How did you feel at this very moment?

Sabine Meyer:I don't remember an exact moment of photographic illumination. My father has been taken photos since ever, he has spent a lot of his spare time organizing prints and slides and I grew up with photography. I didn't decide to become a photographer, I simply became it. I feel uncomplete without a camera in my bag.

"The stone in the right place"

BPP: Would you like to tell us something we didn’t ask until now?

Sabine Meyer: My camera helps me to overcome my fears. Taking pictures of things I hate or things I'm afraid of means exorcising them. I'm trying to live and act in a sincere and clear matter and I often have to deal with difficult situations; photography taught me to analyse and capture quickly feelings and contents and to find coherent and effective solutions with and without camera